1. Field of the Invention
This Invention relates to an image display which is removably mounted on the head of a viewer to project an image on each eye of the viewer, and in particular, to an improvement of mount supporting means for firmly mounting and supporting an image display body on the head of the viewer in his desired state.
2. Description of Related Art
Recent years have seen many developments in image displays in which a virtual image can be observed in such a way that an image derived from an image display element, such as a small-sized CRT or liquid crystal display element, is projected directly on each eye of a viewer and thereby the image looks as if it were projected in the air, that is, in head mounted image displays used to be removable for mounting on the head, including the face, of the viewer.
In general, the head mounted image display of prior art comprises an image display body for projecting an image on each eye of a viewer and mount supporting means for removably mounting and supporting the image display body on the head of the viewer including his face.
In the head mounted image display of this type, it is necessary to facilitate its handling and operation and suppress a sense of fatigue or discomfort of the viewer to a minimum during use. Hence, compact and lightweight design of the entire display is required. At the same time, in order that the viewer can easily have experience of an image observation which is rich in theatrical atmosphere, it is important that a relatively small picture of the image display element can be magnified and observed to bring about such an effect that the viewer feels as if he saw a large-sized picture.
In order to hold the image display body at a predetermined front position close to the viewer's eyes, the conventional head mounted image display of this type, as is well known, is generally mounted on the viewer's head, from the sinciput (forehead) through left and right temples to the occiput, by means of a band-like mount supporting member so that the image display body is supported by the mount supporting member.
With the mount supporting member of the conventional head mounted image display mounted on the viewer's head including his face, however, the image display body, which occupies a great part of the image display and has a relatively heavy weight, is situated in a projection state at the predetermined front position close to the viewer's eyes. As a result, the center of gravity of the image display will be deviated forward. In a state where the image display is mounted and supported on the viewer's head, the image display body itself tends to slip down due to gravity. This causes the disadvantage that the viewer cannot make a correct image observation.